Looks like I’ve once again been wrangled into one of Sherry’s schemes. This time it’s her “Dude, Get On That Already” challenge (apparently the “dude” applies to me also) where she’s trying to actually do something with some of the items that we’ve been collecting hoarding in our spare room. It’s a use it or lose it challenge if you will (well, more like a use it or donate/craigslist it challenge). This week’s victim: the light fixture that we rescued from a thrift store in Delaware nearly an entire year ago for a mere $19. That guy just sat on the floor of the playroom since then, and it was high time we actually allowed him to do the whole illumination thing again.
He’s made of some sort of resin and basically looks like a big glowing ball of clear spaghetti… but in a cool, kinda ’70s way. Update: we’ve learned form a savvy reader that it’s actually called a spaghetti lamp and it’s made out of spun lucite. Our plans back in Feb 2011 were to ORB the gold finish and hang it in our master bathroom nook. Fast-forward to now and the plan has shifted slightly. Instead, we’ve given him a new home in our closet.
The closet seemed to be the better choice because (1) the bathroom nook is visible from the bedroom and we figured this big round fixture might compete visually with the other big round fixture in the room. And (2) the bare bulb in the closet was Yawn City.
Ahh, much better:
We got on that! Oh happy day! Gotta love using what you have and upgrading a naked old ceiling bulb. We’ll dive into more light-related details in a second, but there were some other closet happenings that went on as well…
When you last saw our closet a few months after we moved in April, it was looking mighty clean and organized.
These days, well, let’s just say it had gotten a bit derailed thanks to a certain chihuahua we all know and love.
It’s actually unfair to place the blame solely on Burger. Sure moving his crate into our closet from the playroom closet meant our laundry basket got displaced from it’s nice little nook. But Clara was actually the main reason for the move. We too often found her playing with Burger’s food, water, and crate – much to Burger’s dismay – so we decided to tuck it away in our room where she doesn’t go that often. For some reason Burger enjoys small spaces, so he feels most comfortable with his crate and even his food/water tucked away in a closet or nook (it’s just dry food, so there’s not any odor and we thankfully don’t have any ants/pests that bother it). So after a year of nook deliberating we declared our closet: The Best Nook For The Job.
To make a long story long, even though this project started because of a light – we couldn’t ignore the other less-than-satisfactory situations going on in here too. And fortunately there was an easy answer. See how much spare room I’ve got on my side of the closet?
Unlike the lady wife, I don’t use my entire shoe rack left here by the previous owners. Yes, I know, I’m such a typical guy – I have one pair of brown shoes and one pair of black shoes and my flip flops and sneakers live in our shoe bins by the door. Meanwhile, on the other side of the closet, Sherry has enough shoes for the both of us. Not that I wear hers. I actually don’t think I could walk in any of them.
So after a bit of couple’s brainstorming (aka: Sherry encouraging me to allow Burger’s crate to pilfer some floor space from my side), I plucked out my shoe rack. And after completing the exhausting task of removing both pairs of shoes from it (sheesh, talk about backbreaking DIY) we got down to business.
Sherry pried it apart and I cut down the two long shelves by about 14 inches and…
…we nailed it back together, thereby creating a John-shoe-collection-sized rack.
And the smaller rack made space for Burger’s crate in the corner. So we’re glad we got on that. Why it took us 13 months of living here, I’m not sure.
But you know what, I really should let Burger give you the tour – since it’s kinda his domain. And yes, this means this post is about to be pretend narrated by a dog.
“Welcome to my bedroom people of the Internet!”
“Here you will find that my crate has been replaced by a clothing receptacle. Apparently my family finds it more important to have their dirty clothes closer to them than their beloved canine.”
“But that’s okay, because now I get more privacy back here in my master suite. Hello? Do you see me here in the back giving you the peeper?”
“Conveniently located next to my sleeping chambers are the dining facilities. Why thank you for asking – yes, I do live the life.”
“Speaking of my delicious cuisine, allow me to indulge myself for a moment.”
“Actually, I’d much prefer my culinary assistant to hand feed me right now. Oh tiny human! Come hither!”
Okay, tour’s over. It’s John again. That Burger’s feisty, isn’t he? Anyways, you can see above what we mean when we say that Clara likes to get into his food (don’t mind the sticker covered monkey/sock/floor). It’s not the worst thing that she likes to feed Burger his food piece by piece… if only she didn’t feel the need to swirl each piece around in his water dish first. She gets her strange-ness from her mother I think.
Anyways, this post was supposed to be about a light, right? Sidetracked much? Back to that…
Installation was pretty easy. We cut the plug/cord off and exposed the wires to make it hardwire-able. Then we picked up a kit at Home Depot that would allow us to attach the chain to a crossbar (though we had to hunt down a canopy at a specialty lighting store that would fit). We left everything gold because we figured since it was in the closet it didn’t have to match the other fixtures in the room, and we kinda dig the retro gold look for the closet. We can always paint it down the line if we get “the bug” but for now we like him just the way he is.
The room isn’t really this dark with the light on, I just turned down the exposure on the camera so you can see the texture of the light a bit better. And these pics don’t even do it justice. It’s super cool looking when it’s on. Sherry actually wants to make a video since she says it’s so much better in “real life” so you have that excitement to potentially look forward to…
One of the coolest parts are the little streaks of light it casts all over the wall and ceiling. Like little party streamers or something. We almost feel like we should have installed some mechanism to make it rotate like a disco ball. Okay, not really. But that could’ve been fun…
It’s kind of a shame that the light spent nearly 12 months in a pile in our playroom. But at least it’s hanging up in all of its glory now! Oh and as for how we figured out the right height for it, I just stood under it as Sherry hung it at different heights and we picked one that gave me a little room – so it hangs around 6’4″ from the floor (our ceilings are 8′ high).
Oh, and if you’re at all curious as to what happened to all of the excess chain that we didn’t use (it had like 8 feet for swagging) – you can see Clara get her Jersey on with it over at Young House Life today. And yes there’s a video. And fist pumping. Predictably, I’m mortified and Sherry’s elated.
So did any of you guys cross something off your “Dude, Get On That Already” list this week? Did you reorganize a closet or otherwise rope your husband into a challenge? How about ghost writing a blog post for a chihuahua? Just me?
MB says
I cracked up while Burger gave his tour. I too give my dog a voice. And she’s pretty funny.
Heather says
Nice upgrade! Love the peeper stare, Burgs. And…I pity the fool who doesn’t love Clara’s Mr. T impression.
Lindsy says
That light is awesome! I definitely got some stuff done this week. I managed to get my husband to mega-purge the office/guest room and then we rearranged and reorganized everything. Much happier now. It’s like a feeling of lightness. Plus I finally finished this pillow project that had been hanging over my head for about three months. Yay! http://www.henhousechronicles.com/2012/01/26/designer-diy-cable-knit-pillows/
YoungHouseLove says
Yay! To the fun pillow project and the feeling of lightness. I want some of that!
xo,
s
Paige says
My goodness, Burger, you’re so posh with your private sleeping chambers and culinary assistant!
Ilana says
It would be great if you could do a tutorial on how to actually convert/hang lights. Like I wouldn’t even know what to do with a light kit!
YoungHouseLove says
It’s so hard to take those pics since one of us usually hold the light and the other person does the wires, but we’ll have to try. I think youtube.com has some great stuff in the meantime though!
xo,
s
Sonja says
Awesome. I am totally in need of this challenge. I already kicked myself into gear and made a few phone calls to contractors to get things rolling on a driveway/retaining wall project we have been planning for a loooong time. I got the first quote last September and it was so much $$ I couldn’t bring myself to get any other bids. Here’s hoping we find a good contractor with a bid we can afford this time!
I have a lot more get on it already projects lying around my house, so more to come!
YoungHouseLove says
Good luck Sonja! We’re crossing our fingers for you.
xo,
s
Megan @ Two Live Colorfully says
How do you guys always snag the best deals?? Lucky!! Loving that light fixture. Ya’ll have a pretty fly closet! :D
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Megan! We know to grab something when we love it – especially for $19. However we have proven we’re terrible at getting it hung! Haha. It nearly took us a year! best advice for finding deals is go to lots of thrift stores, even when you travel. And if you love it- grab it! Just don’t stick it in the playroom for 11 months. Haha.
xo,
s
Erin @ His & Hers says
haha we inherited one of these when we moved into our house….only it was brown. And gross. And reminded me of worms. We put it by the curb, because it freaked me out. Yours, however, looks pretty! :)
There’s a picture of our worm lamp here:
http://his-and-hers-blog.blogspot.com/2011/02/honey-we-forgot-salon-chair.html
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- oh yes yours was very worm-like! I wonder if it’s the thicker “strands” or the brown color. Haha.
xo,
s
Trude says
You’re cracking me up with Burger’s narrations! Love that series of photos. :) The light looks so lovely, but I’m mostly distracted by your awesome walk-in closet.
Brittany *Sparkles* says
The tour from the pup’s POV was priceless :)
Amanda says
I love this! That light is so fun, and I’m dying to do something to update our closet – so I have to say I’m jealous of how great yours is looking! :)
Michelle Z. says
Since this is kind of a Burger-centric post, I hope you won’t mind if I ask a Chihuahua related question.
Does Burger wear little jackets when you go outside? We have a Chihuahua, and this is his first winter with us. I cannot find dog sweaters or coats that are small enough for him. (He weighs 5lbs.) I see that you don’t usually put sweaters on him in the house, but do you put one on him for trips outside?
Also, does Burger shiver all. day. long?
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, Burger does have a sweater but he hates it so we leave it off for the most part. We found a knitted sweater at Petco and shrunk it in the wash with hot water to make it fit. Haha. Oh and he shivers a lot but it’s apparently a normal chihuahua thing since they do it when they’re cold or excited or hungry or nervous… basically all the time, haha.
xo,
s
Sheila @SZInteriors says
I love the way your spaghetti lamp looks in your closet – it’s awesome without the swag! This is such a coincidence… I wrote an article on Spaghetti Swags inspired by a Fall Pinterest Challenge entry… here’s the link in case you’re interested in reading it!
http://www.sheilazellerinteriors.com/articles/string-pendant
You guys had a vintage treasure in your back room all this time, and I can’t believe you got it for $19. That’s such an awesome story :-)
YoungHouseLove says
No way, I love it! Too funny.
xo,
s
Jesette says
lol Loved your Burger “talk”. That’s something my husband would do with our own puppy!
Megan says
I love Burger!! this is one of my favorite posts! You totally need to have a link to everything Burger.
Amy says
John! Best post ever! I’ve read Burgers tour three times and I’m still laughing! Thanks for making my day! You two are always so fun but this was my favorite! Heading over to watch Clara with the gold chain… I’m from Jersey too so I totally get why it is so appealing =)
Evelyn says
I love the blog; however, I don’t generally laugh out loud. That narrating dog thing though–Hilarious! Love y’all!
Jessie @ Imperfectly Polished says
Love the new light! Such a steal! We recently made over our entire closet {new DIY light included} so I feel your pain on the messiness…I’m starting to feel like I can find finally my clothes and keep things organized now:) Much needed! You can see our reveal here: http://imperfectlypolished.com/2012/01/09/closet-reveal/
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- love that!
xo,
s
Hannah says
I love the new lighting situation! And we have to deal with our furry children taking up space in our master bedroom/bathroom too, but its worth it when they’re happy. We finally organized our bathroom linen closet & found a new home for everything that isn’t actually linen. :)
http://figuringoutlifeblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/cleaning-out-closet.html
YoungHouseLove says
Nice!
xo,
s
Jenn says
Haha, I hope I wasn’t the only one that finished reading the Burger part and realized they had switched to a distinguished, deep, Spanish accent in their head!
Criss says
Just the other day I was thinking about your kitchen layout and wondering where Burger’s food and water dishes are kept. Is that weird?! (My guess was the laundry room area.) Thanks for solving the mystery!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- so funny! And your guess makes way more sense than our closet. Ha.
xo,
s
Michelle says
My parents had that lamp in green back in the 70’s. It hasn’t been that long since my mom finally let it go. Fun memories. Let’s hope that the oversized flowery bedspread that it was paired with doesn’t reappear. It was truly horrid even back then.
susan greene says
Dear Burger,
I think you need some more voice time on the blog….here is an example on how we rule on Susan’s blog.
http://susangreene.typepad.com/artful_gatherings/2012/01/jan-6-2012.html
YoungHouseLove says
Hahaha. Now Burger’s eying the laptop like it’s his.
xo,
s
Sandra T says
You guys, a quick Google search shows that your lamp is kinda rare. I saw one on Etsy that looked alot like yours (gold chain and all) for $179! Apparently they are rare because they are fragile. Oh and Burger, I was imagining him speaking with a sorta Antonio Banderas accent?! ha ha
YoungHouseLove says
Ha! That totally works. Though we also sometimes assume he speaks in an annoyed teenager voice, which is also kinda fun.
-John
Teresa @ wherelovemeetslife says
HAHA! I sat down this morning to catch up on my fave blogs…and I needed a good laugh. :) Thanks John! You also gave me an idea of what to do with our crates! They currently reside in our bedroom and are a horrible eyesore. Our dogs need them though, so hiding them is the only option(ours love thier crates as well!)
And on another note..I took the day off work today for some personal reasons, but also to CLEAN MY HOUSE! I’m hoping to finally do a good house tour so I have all of my Before pics up. I am really bad at snapping before pics and remember halfway through a project. Oops!
Cathy says
Just getting caught up with yhl after a while & happen to notice that CLARA HAS HAIR!!! Let the buying and inevitable subsequent losing of the super cute hair accesories begin! Btw, love the light. Never wouldve occurred to me to pretty up a closet with it. Yhl rocks!
Emily says
I finally fixed a book of my daughter’s that I have been meaning to, as well as updating her baby book with all her 12 month stuff (as she’s going on 15 months I thought it was time). I love crossing things off my never-ending list!!
Sharon says
I was watching Home by Novogratz on HGTV the other night and they used the same vintage spaghetti light in a project they were working on ….. cool.
YoungHouseLove says
No way! So funny. Will have to try to catch that.
xo,
s
Deena says
I love this story! Our dog sleeps in our master bedroom walk in closet as well. We don’t have her crate in there, since she’s an 80 lb chocolate Lab, we wouldn’t have room for much else.
She started sleeping in there when we redid the closet a few years ago. We now have two rows of hanging clothes, so she will walk into my clothes and curl up in there. She starts out the night in our bed at my feet (under the blankets, thankyouverymuch) then when she gets hot she goes in there. We call it “Bailey’s little room”. And there better not be a reason you need to be in there after she’s asleep.
My “Dude, Get on That” project this week was a photo book of our 2010 trip to Jamaica. Thanks to that expiring Groupon to Mixbook, I actually took the time to put the book together. Nothing like wasted money to motivate!
YoungHouseLove says
Wahoo! Congrats Deena!
xo,
s
Mel V. says
Burger makes a fantastic narrator. That is all. :-)
(Oh, and the light really suits the spot too.)
Anna H says
What a wonderful upgrade to a closet!! The light fixture was a beautiful finishing touch! I would never think to add such a cute piece to a closet! Great Idea!
Lynda says
I couldn’t take white walls in a closet any longer and my husband painted the walls for me. The color is a cheery peach, maybe not the best for some people, but it cheers me up when I see it, especially in the morning.
Good work.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, I love that! I’m dying to paint ours too!
xo,
s
Kristin F says
Love the gold with that fixture. I think it was the right choice leaving it, sets off the texture and color of the globe really well. I’m a firm believer in ORB, but sometimes you have to let your gold light shine, too. I can’t believe you got the light for $19 though, it looks serious high end. I, as $herdog would say, lurve it!
Jackie Toye says
Reading your post and peeping over at my master bedroom closet. Duh! Yes the old Why didn’t I think of that?
There’s so much we settle for, and this is the perfect make it your own, dress it up idea. I check out homes for sale alot and I’m amazed at how bland we humans can be.
Thanks again for the inspiration.
Kelly @ Kelly Day Interiors says
Hi! I really like your blog,I just started following recently and I am glad I have. Thanks for the laughs, ideas and info!
Mary Karen says
My husband and I moved our family of five to Helsinki Finland for 7 months just a few weeks ago. Helsinki is the “Design Capital 2012” and we live in the “Design District.” No, I’m not a designer, but it’s torture looking at all these lovely shops every day on my way to drop the kids at school!
Anyway, I saw your spaghetti light fixture hanging in a window at a very modern/cool design store. You’re so Euro HIP!
YoungHouseLove says
Ooooh, go us!
-John
DJ Sherry says
http://www.houzz.com/photos/424968/Lincoln-Park-Residence-contemporary-kitchen-chicago
Check these “spaghetti” lights in this fab kitchen at houzz.com
Great job Sherry
YoungHouseLove says
I love it! Thanks for the link!
xo,
s
Kristin says
I just wanted to echo the comments about what a great setup you all have with Burger in your closet. Our little man (13-month-old Kasen) plays in our pup’s water bowl… putting it in a non-traditional space is a great idea that we might steal from you!
We are just winding up a “Dude Get on That” type project, which we dubbed the “Get Out of Our House! Challenge” on our blog. We decided to tackle one overstuffed space a day for 30 days. It was ambitious, but we’re actually succeeding. It feels great to have a clean and organized (junk-free) home. Anyway, I think you’ll be very happy to “get on” everything!
YoungHouseLove says
Wahoo! That must feel great! Congrats.
xo,
s
Chrissy Henry says
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this light!!! And who wouldn’t want a little sparkle in their closet? I think you are totally right that it may be “competing” with the big globe light in your bedroom if you hung it in the sink nook so the closet was a stellar idea! Now you get to enjoy it every day :)
Debbie S says
We cleaned out the hall coat closet (yes, it was a job for two people, sigh). Found 27 baseball hats and 9 pairs of swim goggles…ridiculous!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, must feel great!
xo,
s
Shan says
I love Burger’s room tour. Awesome light makeover! I have a beautiful hanging light that has been sitting on the floor of the spare room since December. Time to get on it!
Molly says
You guys are too funny. I don’t know why I find talking pets so hilarious. It was like reading “Cribs,” doggie style. Thanks for the laugh!
Emily says
I was in 4 of my close friends weddings in 2011 so I have a plethora of awesome pictures that are just dying to be in a yearbook.
Heather says
Love your blog!! We also vacation in Rehobeth and the other Delaware Beaches–I will have to check out that thrift store ~ what great finds!!!
Nadine says
I looked at your post because I need a light fixture in my closet, too. I have to wait for daylight to do any work/organizing/disorganizing in there.
However, I don’t have wiring, so last week I peeked into the crawlspace to where I need to make the hole and run the wiring. Sigh. I hate kneeling on joists *hate it!*
But I love your closet. Mine closes with perfectly useful but homely bifold doors. Have you done anything about beautifying homely bifold doors?
Love your closet! … Oops said it again!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Nadine! We have removed bifold doors for an open look in our laundry closet in our first house and also used them to make a screen for the basement of our first house (to hide the water heater- we painted them emerald green). Anyone else have ideas for beautifying bifold doors for Nadine? Maybe add new hardware and give them a fresh coat of paint? Oh or you could replace them with curtains (we did that in our current master closet actually)!
xo,
s
Kris Sammon says
That is hands down one of the coolest names ive heard in a long time. ‘Burger’. alose love what you have done with the space, you have made that cupboard area seem really spacious.
Leah Bowen says
I was in El Paso this weekend and went to a diner and your closet lights where hanging throughout to place! Made me smile!